1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connection forming or wire preparation tool and, in particular, to an electrical wire handling tool for cutting wires, inserting wires into insulation piercing connectors and removing wires from such connectors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the increasing use of single-sided main distributing frames in telephone central offices, which frames use insulation crushing, abrading or piercing connectors, there has arisen a need for a tool to handle the wiring on such a frame. Such a tool should be capable of cutting jumper wires to the required length, installing jumper wires into the connectors and removing no longer needed jumper wires from the connectors.
One illustration of a tool for inserting electrical wires into clip-type terminals is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,534 issued to H. Kaufman et al on July 29, 1975. The Kaufman et al tool uses an automatic impulse generator to apply a controlled impulse to a blade during insertion of the wire. The tool features a blade construction having a removable and reversible tip.
The Kaufman et al tool suffers a number of drawbacks. The first of these drawbacks concerns wire cutting capability. While the Kaufman et al tool does include a cutting capability, its use is limited to cutting wires upon which action has already been performed, that is, cutting wires that have been installed in a connector. The second drawback exhibited by this tool is its lack of wire removal capability.
Another illustration of the state of the art in electrical hand tools is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,581 issued to M. Kober on Dec. 27, 1977. Kober discloses a tool which is used to strip insulation from electrical wire, wrap the stripped end about a terminal and unwrap a stripped end to remove the wire from a terminal. The wrapping and unwrapping bits extend from opposite ends of a common handle on which the stripper is mounted.
While Kober teaches a hand tool capable of both making an electrical connection and undoing an already made electrical connection, the tool is only usable for wirewrap-type connections. As such this tool is of no utility for handling wires to be terminated in or removed from insulation crushing, abrading or piercing connectors. Moreover, Kober does not address the problem of cutting wires to any desired length at any location.
Yet another illustration of the state of the art in electrical hand tools appears in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,800 issued to T. E. Roswell on Feb. 26, 1980. Roswell discloses a self-contained breadboard wiring tool. This tool is used for inserting thin insulated wire into narrow slots of solderless electrical contacts and subsequently cutting the length of wire needed. The cutting tool is a prolongation of a shaft supporting a supply spool of the requisite wire.
Similar to the Kaufman et al tool, the Roswell tool is devoid of any wire extraction apparatus. In addition, the cutting arrangement disclosed by Roswell suffers the same drawback heretofore described with respect to the Kaufman et al tool, that is, the cutting apparatus is limited to cutting wires upon which action has already been performed.
Still another illustration of the state of the art in electrical wire handling tools is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,256 issued to R. H. Knickerbocker on Mar. 25, 1980. Knickerbocker discloses a wire installing tool for inserting wire into a multifingered electrical connector. The tool comprises a handle containing a reversible elongated stem having recesses at both ends. The recesses are sized differently in depth to adapt to electrical connectors having various thicknesses. A disposable blade is releasably mounted on the stem and aligned with the recess to form a cavity. The depth of the cavity is dependent upon which end of the stem is aligned with the blade. One end of the blade has a two-sided edge with the outer side being shaped at an optimum shear angle for shearing wire to be inserted into the electrical connector, while the inner side of the blade is shaped to allow for a wire tail to protrude a predetermined distance from the electrical connector. The other end of the blade has a blunt end rather than a cutting edge. The blunt end is used to install wire on an electrical connector without cutting the wire.
Similar to the Kaufman et al tool, the Knickerbocker tool suffers a number of drawbacks. These drawbacks include the inability to cut wire to any desired length and at any location, and the inability to extract a wire once it has been installed.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that there continues to exist a need for a tool which is capable of: cutting jumper wires to the required length and at any location; installing jumper wires into insulation crushing, abrading or piercing connectors; and removing no longer needed jumper wires from such connectors.